Buddist lama's sponsored walk

Watford Observer, Aug 12, 2006

Watford, UK -- A TIBETAN lama will take part in a sponsored walk on Sunday to raise money for a Buddhist temple based in Bushey. Lama Khemsar Rinpoche, who is the only Buddhist lama of his type in Europe, will walk 15 miles, starting and finishing at the temple, to raise funds for the centre he set up in 1993.

The walk will see more than 40 people circle the Buddhist temple, based in the Lincolnsfield Centre in Bushey Hall Drive, which is the UK centre for the Yungdrung Bon tradition.continued...

Lama Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual director of the temple and is hoping to raise money to begin the process of relocating the temple away from its current rented location.

He said: "Ten years ago, I was looking for a place but there was nowhere we could afford to rent or buy in the UK.

"This place was dilapidated - you could see the sky through the roof and there were stray dogs around, but it was the cheapest I could rent.

"We had to spend months and months going round Watford and Bushey picking up doors and carpets from skips because we had no money.

"We spent so much time and energy restoring it, but now we are trying to raise funds to build a permanent UK temple centre."

Lama Rinpoche is the only teacher in Europe of the ancient Yungdrung Bon tradition, which means Eternal Light or Enlightened Teaching and is based on the principle of practising unconditional love and compassion towards all.

It is the original spiritual tradition in Tibet and its history can be traced back more than 18,000 years.

Lama Rinpoche began his Buddhist education when he was just five, before having to flee Tibet following an uprising in 1959 when his family were forced to travel across the Himalayan mountains to India, where they found refuge.

He was then invited to the West in 1993 to teach the practice.

The lama continues to be a pre-eminent teacher of the tradition and travels throughout Europe and America giving lectures.